Red Bull Salzburg Vs Devils -Thu 6th Sept 2018 / 7:30pm (CEST) - CHL

[Gospel]

One of the main reasons we aren't getting the results in the CHL is the team haven't been together that long and have barely trained together compared to the European teams. Their training camps started around a month before our guys even got into the UK! They've come out of the blocks flying, as they should , and the Devils have limped out. Add to that the injuries, changing of the lines from last season and then each game this season, the wait on getting Parisi here and it screws up your plans. We might be able to get away with that in the EIHL due to the natural ability of our guys being that bit better than other teams, but not against the top European teams.

Its about the preparation going into the start of the CHL and we just don't have it.

 

[Devil_Abroad]

People can slate me all they want to on this but we can upgrade on Bowns in the summer. He is slowly getting out of his depth, especially in the CHL. Salzburg aren’t even that good, it’s just we’ve been crap!

Seriously?

They’re not that good?

They’re the fastest most organised team I’ve seen - faster than Bern and that’s saying something!

What are you watching?

Bowns has had 1 1/2 poor periods in 3 games - and one goal last night he’d want back. Our D didn’t help by not clearing the puck in front of him either.

Sometimes I do wonder whether I’m watching the same games

 

[Devil_Abroad]

4-1 down and the commentary coming from Lordo on the bench shows just how great this guy is. Nothing but support and praise for his team.

Did you see him wiping his eyes at the conclusion of the anthem? #passionate

 

[Devil_Abroad]

It ain’t offensive d men we’re missing. It’s netminding that’s the difference.

Totally disagree - it’s our team D that’s not quite right at the moment. Yes Bowns had one bad period but he hasn’t been to blame for any other goals bar one from last night.

 

[Part Time Devil]

He’s good but we can certainly upgrade on him next season with an import goalie or just sign a rotation netminder like Mark Dekanich at some point to give Bowns a rest. For me we should’ve signed Swindlehurst or O’Connor in the summer during the offseason. I still don’t think our D is stable enough so that’s where Swindlehurst would’ve come in handy. 6’4 tall D man who can play. I just think Reddick is just too small to be a D man and gets outmuscled a lot through no fault of his own, he just needs to bulk up a bit! Hopefully Bowns gets over this blip fast because we can’t have him underperforming throughout the season if we are to retain the league title.

As with everything it’s all about opinions. O’Connor is a good d man but I’d take Richardson over him any day and for me, Swindlehurst, having watched GB, isn’t anywhere near Cardiff level yet.​

Also having watched the saves Bowns made in the last 2 games I wouldn’t say there is a blip, simply that Devils have been beaten by teams who have played better for a full 60 minutes. Add in unlucky bounces at both ends, eg Hedden hit the bar, one goal against in Game 2 hit Ulmer and the results could have been different.​

The good signs for the league is that Devils have matched these 2 quality teams, in all areas, including netminding, but as Lord said tonight not for the full 60 minutes. I feel people having a pop have taken the first period of the first game and haven’t really looked at the rest and the quality of the opposing shooters / shots.​

Like I said just a different perspective and I think it says a lot that people have to single players out or that there are almost always far more posts after a loss than there are after a win. Way too early to start calling for players to be replaced, just as happened last year.​

 

[Devil_Abroad]

Agree with this, next year we should sign a top Brit like Sullivan, Dowd or Farmer which would allow us to bring in an import netminder to rotate with Bowns. It's clear Lord doesn't trust Murdy which is very strange! Bowns has it easy

 

[Devil_Abroad]

Bowns was OK tonight (but he doesn’t look comfortable at the moment), just one that he’d really want back I think but goaltending was a key difference with Herzog playing well again. But our goaltending hasn’t been great in pre-season and the CHL games, which is worrying. Our duo are good enough for the EIHL but we’re coming up against much better netties in the CHL, as you’d expect really. Yet again, we give a cheap lead away - you just can’t do that at this level. A spirited comeback from the Devils and we played some good stuff in the second half of the game but we left ourselves with too much to do, yet again.
We are missing Hotham too, agree with that, and I hope his replacement will be in soon - but thanks to Parisi whose departure has really screwed our European campaign.

Parisi would have brought us more offence on D however it’s our defending that hasn’t yet clicked. We probably will never find another Hotham as far as his uncanny ability to pop up with goals, goal making passes, and clearing the front of the net; however his biggest failing at this level was his speed. Listening to our owners last night Batch has done such a great job of stepping in to our D that we’re quite happy to wait until NHL starts to decide what players may be available to bolster our squad and cover for injuries. With Batch having found some turbo skates and Blood our D looks pretty quick compared to last season with Hotham and Strachan.

 

[Devil_Abroad]

Firstly, hats off to the travelling supporters - heard you all singing loud and proud on the television which must have helped cheer on the boys. Safe journey home for you all (or on to Bern).

Secondly - disappointing that we couldn’t pull it out of the bag. Whilst Salzburg are a good team I think the score line flattered them. We had many opportunities, particularly in the second and third but once again Herzog had an outstanding game. Once again, Bowns did make some crucial saves but I’m not seeing the same Bowns that played outstandingly for team GB - and I worry what these games are doing to his confidence.

On a final note - so happy to see Myers back. I’ve really missed seeing him play as he is extremely valuable to us.

I think we also made Herzog look good as our finishing was not measured - we seem to grip the sticks too hard and ‘panic’

Bowns made some amazing saves again last night that kept us in it - only one he’d want back - so I’m definitely disagreeing with what seems like everyone thinking Bowns is off the boil. That 3rd period we were right behind his net and he made countless great saves. Our D need to clear guys from in front of him and get rid of the loose pucks quickly - that was the difference between us and them last night.

 

[Devil_Abroad]

Bowns is playing poor right now tbh.

Devils will be ok in the eihl but the chl is just to big a step for us this season.

No he isn’t and no it’s not

We have competed for 7 out of 9 periods with 2 top European sides. Bern are above Vaxjo!

Yowzer, anyone on here seeing the same games as me?

 

[Devil_Abroad]

​

As with everything it’s all about opinions. O’Connor is a good d man but I’d take Richardson over him any day and for me, Swindlehurst, having watched GB, isn’t anywhere near Cardiff level yet.​

​

Also having watched the saves Bowns made in the last 2 games I wouldn’t say there is a blip, simply that Devils have been beaten by teams who have played better for a full 60 minutes. Add in unlucky bounces at both ends, eg Hedden hit the bar, one goal against in Game 2 hit Ulmer and the results could have been different.​

​

The good signs for the league is that Devils have matched these 2 quality teams, in all areas, including netminding, but as Lord said tonight not for the full 60 minutes. I feel people having a pop have taken the first period of the first game and haven’t really looked at the rest and the quality of the opposing shooters / shots.​

​

Like I said just a different perspective and I think it says a lot that people have to single players out or that there are almost always far more posts after a loss than there are after a win. Way too early to start calling for players to be replaced, just as happened last year.​

This!!! If I could have written a piece then this would be it. At last! And he’s a part time Devil!

 

[Part Time Devil]

This!!! If I could have written a piece then this would be it. At last! And he’s a part tieme Devil!

She

 

[august04]

I’m not suggesting for one minute that we replace Bowns with an import nettie, far from it. He is struggling at the moment, that’s clear from his general movement and he just doesn’t look settled - but we know he will come good. I also thought he played OK last night, just the one he’d want back. I am suggesting that perhaps the time is coming in this league where you need two top goaltenders to share duties or ease the burden more on the better goalie. Lord is very reluctant to play Murdy for whatever reason and my feeling is that 80 tough games a year, when you are always under pressure to win given the emphasis on the league title, is too much for one goalie to take virtually the brunt of all that. That’s not having a go at Bowns. That’s just the way the league is developing and I think we’ll see that trend fairly soon as we did in the Superleague days.

 

[Devil_Abroad]

She

Haha oops my bad!

 

[Devil_Abroad]

I’m not suggesting for one minute that we replace Bowns with an import nettie, far from it. He is struggling at the moment, that’s clear from his general movement and he just doesn’t look settled - but we know he will come good. I also thought he played OK last night, just the one he’d want back. I am suggesting that perhaps the time is coming in this league where you need two top goaltenders to share duties or ease the burden more on the better goalie. Lord is very reluctant to play Murdy for whatever reason and my feeling is that 80 tough games a year, when you are always under pressure to win given the emphasis on the league title, is too much for one goalie to take virtually the brunt of all that. That’s not having a go at Bowns. That’s just the way the league is developing and I think we’ll see that trend fairly soon as we did in the Superleague days.

Having watched Murdy twice in pre-season his biggest problem is going to the butterfly too early - being short he leaves an awful lot of room upstairs. His glove hand was struggling a bit too. However, with coaching and practice he too will be back to normal service going into the season I’m sure.

 

[RedDevil17]

How did Nottingham prove that?????

Nottingham proved that surprises happen in hockey. No one expected them to top their group against 3 top class teams and I’m pretty sure most expected them to finish bottom with no wins, never mind 3/4! If they can do it then why couldn’t we?

 

[august04]

Having watched Murdy twice in pre-season his biggest problem is going to the butterfly too early - being short he leaves an awful lot of room upstairs. His glove hand was struggling a bit too. However, with coaching and practice he too will be back to normal service going into the season I’m sure.

He hardly got any playing time last year either.

 

[kingmo19.1]

For those having a pop at bownsey i think you need to step back and look at the (much) bigger picture:-

Just a reality setter, your beloved Cardiff Devils are nothing more than minnows in the CHL. If you think our guys are going to be matching their opponents you are sadly deluded! Our guys are playing in an inferior league because they are inferior players - I know that’s hard to digest but it’s true I’m afraid.

Bownsey has played to his level.

CHL Is nothing more than a jolly and a publicity gainer as we’re never going to do anything in it unless massive money is spent!

If we’re calling our players who are supposedly not performing great then let’s also be realistic. Joey M has hardly set the world alight so far this season and neither has Faryna, Morrisette or Benti. So one may feel the problems are not so ‘D’ related but further up the ice!

And for heavens sake, let’s not delude ourselves with the 2 wins we had last season and pretend we are contenders! Vaxjo was a dead rubber - they had already qualified and didn’t care.

 

[Devil_Abroad]

He hardly got any playing time last year either.

He played quite a few games early on due to Bowns’ injury didn’t he?

 

[Rabbitohs4]

Well said kingmo 19.1

Devils are competing at high high level to stick with these guys an run them close is really good.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I think there are a lot of positives to take from last night. We dominated at times in the 2nd and 3rd but Lord was right, we have to play like that for 60 minutes.
The penalties did not help us in the first. Yes most of them were technically correct but the CHL is so much more stringent its takes a bit of adjusting. Some calls on Blood look like he was being victimised like Voth used to.
I thought Blood was outstanding. He was the only new signing I was worried about. I thought he might just be a fighter looking at his PIM but I was so wrong. He is fast becoming a real leader.
Noone will ever replace Hotham whose vision and offensive ability were off the scale. However I would say defensively Blood is as good as if not better than Hotham. He rarely comes out of a D zone corner without the puck.
Hedden also had another great game but the one Im most pleased about is Linglet.
I have hardly noticed him in previous games but last night he stood out. He has great speed and power. I think the key to Linglets success may be finding the right line mates for him. He will create carnage in front of net but may need someone to capitalise on it and pop the puck in.
Ulmer also had another great game.
I think its unfair to punish Bownsy for the one bad period he had last week. He admitted that he played poorly. Other than one period I think he has played as well as last year. I don't see a dip in form.
Im still feeling really positive for the league this year.